[Rec.709]

(I've read the overscan threads)

I have a new Samsung PN50C550 plasma (1080p). Excellent picture, but it has a lot more overscan than I expected, about 9% horizontal and 9% vertical (total). I'm feeding it a full 1920x1080 signal.
Samsung tech service (Canada) says that if I have the monitor set to 16:9 mode, it will display all pixels. They say my source must be feeding it an incorrect signal. I tried the HDMI-DVI input as well.

She insisted that the TV has no overscan at all, which seems unlikely. She even asked their "Tier 2" people (I wasn't allowed to talk to them). 1:1 pixel mapping mode is a feature that you see listed very specifically on some higher end TVs. I don't think that it's the way the picture is presented on a standard consumer HD plasma, is it? i even read in forums about the "Just Scan" feature on some Samsung plasmas but it is not a feature on this model.

Any thoughts? I was OK with a small amount of overscan, but this is way too much.

 

[57]

See the following FAQ on overscan. There is no way it should be 9%. How did you come to that number? Can you see the logos on channels and the various tickers/scores?. Most of the time if you set the TV for 16:9, you'll have about 2-3% overscan - you can confirm with a test DVD for example.

What equipment (makes and models) do you have connected to the TV? The only way to get 0% overscan is to use the Just Scan (pixel/pixel) mode and to use HDMI (it doesn't work with component video.) See the second link for more on that topic. I would have thought that any 1080P TV has that mode, provided you're feeding it via HDMI. Check for that option somewhere in the user menus. Perhaps download the user menu and search the PDF for Just Scan.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=93233 Overscan

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=793236#post793236 Stretch Modes


And check out the following post, useful for those new to this - FAQs, Search Tips, Optimization, etc.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=57741

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

Samsung 1080p sets ... look for Screen fit parameter in the aspect ratio list. Overscan in 16:9 mode should be 2% to 2.5% usually.

Are you sure your source is not zoomed in too? Sometimes Satellite box zoom is enabled by mistake ...

regards

 

[Rec.709]

Problem Solved!

57 & Michael: Thank you both very much for responding. I went back and re-read the manual and started from scratch. Extremely happy to report that I had success in getting the entire image to display using the "Screen Fit" suggestion. The confusion came about because "Screen Fit" is not an option when the input is TV or AV. I assumed those would be the same choices in HDMI mode. They're actually not the same. In TV & AV modes you have the following P-Size options: 4:3, 16:9, Zoom1, Zoom2.
With HDMI inputs your P-Size options are: 16:9, Wide Fit, 4:3, and Screen Fit. Also if you connect to HDMI/DVI-1 input, it allows you to move the picture about 10 pixels in each direction in Screen Fit mode. It seems to work only with that input.

My source device is actually a computer (Mac Pro running Final Cut Pro editing software) with a PCIe card which connects to an external break-out box. (It is a Matrox MX02 Mini.) It outputs the proper colour space for display on an HD set via HDMI. It also lets you pick whatever resolution and frame rate you need, so if I'm editing some SD material I could output to my Sony CRT monitor.

I did double check the amount of overscan in the 16:9 mode. I created a Photoshop image at 1920x1080, with four 25-pixel wide borders inside the edges of the image (each with a different colour). When I displayed that I could easily see the overscan (in 16:9 mode).
It's approximately: Left 82 pixels (4.3%), Right 75 pixels (4.0%), Top 52 pixels (4.8%), and Bottom, 46 pixels (4.3%). That's a total of 8.3% horizontal and 9.1% vertical. Not a problem though with this Screen Fit mode while using HDMI, but in TV & AV modes the image would be affected — if those modes have similar overscan. This is actually a good lesson for prepping broadcast graphics for HD. I will definitely be keeping within the Safe Title area for my graphics.

I also hooked up my HD camera via HDMI directly to the Samsung and got the same results using 1920x1080 output. I had shot some concert footage recently and the picture looks incredible on this 50" plasma. Wow.

Thanks again, and I will be going through all the threads that you posted.

 

[Rec.709]

Just Scan vs. Screen Fit

I took a look at a friend's 2 year old Samsung LCD this week.
What used to be called "Just Scan" is now called "Screen Fit" in the P-Size menu. It only works with HDMI sources for me. If you're in TV or AV mode you don't even see "Screen Fit" grayed out, it's only there if you have an HDMI source.